Muhlenberg Joins Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Consortium
The College is the newest member of the consortium, which promotes best practices and innovative strategies for diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.By: Kristine Yahna Todaro Friday, May 3, 2019 01:48 PM
Muhlenberg is now one of 32 institutional members of the Liberal Arts Diversity Officers (LADO) consortium nationwide. LADO provides opportunities for chief diversity officers at liberal arts colleges to collaborate and provide leadership in implementing and publicizing effective diversity strategies at their home institutions.
Founded in 2007, LADO member institutions are private, selective colleges with a focus on undergraduates. They must also have a staff member serving in a diversity leadership role.
“This is an opportunity that came with the creation of Muhlenberg’s diversity leadership position,” says Vick, (pictured left), who joined the College last fall in the new administrative role of associate provost for faculty and diversity initiatives.
“I was impressed with LADO’s goals, and this will be a great partnership for us as we continue to develop our capacity to recruit, retain and support underrepresented faculty, staff and students,” she added.
As a member of LADO, Muhlenberg will also now partner with the Creating Connections Consortium (C3), which is funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. C3 develops, disseminates and promotes new strategies for fostering the full participation of diverse students and faculty. In doing so, it serves as an incubator of innovation for institutional diversity and equity.
The C3 Undergraduate Fellowships program, for example, provides underrepresented students from LADO colleges the opportunity to do paid and mentored graduate-level research, plus helps open doors to graduate schools and internships. This includes training about applying to and succeeding in graduate school.
LADO and C3 representatives also make over a dozen visits to top research universities a year to meet with underrepresented graduate students and encourage them to consider faculty positions at liberal arts colleges. This includes providing information about specific teaching opportunities and the faculty job search process at liberal arts institutions.
Citing the benefits of an effective consortium, Vick says, “There are things we can do better together than alone, including developing collaborative solutions to shared challenges. LADO will help us do this.”
About Muhlenberg College
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City, Muhlenberg is a member of the Centennial Conference, competing in 23 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
